Joseph Barbera

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In his three-and-a-half-hour Archive interview, Joseph Barbera (1911-2006) discusses his start as a young animator at the Van Beuren Studios in New York, before his move to California and MGM's cartoon studio. He recalls working for executive Fred Quimby, and his eventual partnership with William Hanna at MGM. This collaboration with Hanna ultimately led to their own cartoon production company, and Barbera shares many stories about the creation of some of their more memorable characters and shows, including Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and the Smurfs. B-roll consists of a few Hanna-Barbera related photos including an early studio still with Daws Butler, Don Messick, William Hanna, and Joe Barbera. Leonard Maltin conducted the interview on February 26, 1997 in Studio City, CA.

"I just hope they remember I was the creator of some very warm and loving, funny characters that made everybody happy and smile."

Chapter 1

On his early years and education; on his early interest in drawing when he was a child; on books, comic strips, and movies he enjoyed as a child

16:39

On drawing cartoons for various newspapers and magazines; on how he came to be an animator; on studying drawing, and on working for animators Max and Dave Fleischer, and later for Van Beuren Studios

13:14

Chapter 2

On working for a tailor; on his time at Van Beuren Studios

10:11

On moving to Los Angeles and working for Terrytoons as an animator; on working with Friz Freleng; on working on the MGM lot in Culver City in the 1940s

20:20

Chapter 3

On the formation of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of Tom and Jerry; on creating The Ruff & Reddy Show

15:36

On the creation of Hanna-Barbera Productions, and on creating The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show; on The Yogi Bear Show, and on the music of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons; on handling the work load for doing a daily Huckleberry Hound Show

13:46

Chapter 4

On the sudden success of Hanna-Barbara Productions, and on its quick expansion; on the creation and sale of The Flintstones, and on basing the show on The Honeymooners; on the creation of Top Cat, and on the workload at Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s

14:10

On producing limited animation, and on the then-current state of animation on television; on training his animators at Hanna-Barbera Productions, and on the fact that Hanna-Barbra owned their characters and merchandising rights; on the longevity of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of "Pebbles Flintstone" on The Flintstones

15:33

Chapter 5

On his earliest experience seeing television, and recapping the early history of Hanna-Barbera; on how the film studios reacted to television animators, on the differences between film and television animation, and on casting voices for shows like Hong Kong Phooey

09:18

On casting voices for Top Cat; on the creation of The Jetsons; on the creation of Jonny Quest and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

11:26

On how he went about selling his shows, and on Hanna Barbera being sold to Taft Broadcasting in 1966; on Hanna Barbera producing the feature film "Charlotte's Web"

08:14

Chapter 6

On producing the feature film "Charlotte's Web"; on producing the live action The Gathering; on producing the ABC Afterschool Special "Cyrano"

09:16

On producing The Smurfs; on producing the direct-to-video "The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible"; on the live action feature version of The Flintstones, and plans for other live action versions of his animated characters

10:00

On his favorite animated characters, and on the key to a successful animated character; on the then-current state of animation on television, and on the changing technology of animation; on the then-future of animation on television, and how animators are trained

10:51

Chapter 7

On career highlights; on how he'd like to be remembered; on various people he's worked with in his career

11:53

On b-roll pictures from his career- the whole cast of Hanna-Barbera characters; with William Hanna and various voice over artists; at the Television Academy Hall of Fame with Oprah Winfrey; with Tom and Jerry at Disney World; dressed up with William Hanna; at a bowling alley signing an autograph